Murder One (TV series)

Murder One
The major cast of Murder One
Created by	Steven Bochco Charles H. Eglee Channing Gibson
Starring	Daniel Benzali Anthony LaPaglia Stanley Tucci Barbara Bosson Michael Hayden Mary McCormack J. C. MacKenzie
Composer(s)	Mike Post
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	41
Production
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production company(s)	20th Century Fox Television Steven Bochco Productions
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 19, 1995 (1995-09-19) – May 29, 1997 (1997-05-29)

Murder One is an American legal drama television series that first aired on the ABC network in the United States in 1995. The series was created by Steven Bochco, Charles H. Eglee, and Channing Gibson.

Like many of Bochco's previous series, Murder One was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Sometime after the conclusion of Murder One Bochco ended his longtime relationship with Fox and moved his production company over to Paramount, making Murder One his last production with Fox for over a decade.

In 1997, TV Guide ranked the first episode, "Chapter 1", #60 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.

In its first season, the series starred Daniel Benzali as defense attorney Theodore (Ted) Hoffman, a criminal litigator and the principal of his own firm, Hoffman and Associates. Backed by a cadre of young associates, Hoffman was a gruff, masterful criminal lawyer who zealously represented his clients in high-profile cases. Patricia Clarkson played his wife, Annie. Somewhat unusually for a television drama of its time, the first season of the series revolved around a single high-profile criminal case. Stanley Tucci played Richard Cross, a charming but morally ambiguous philanthropist and the first man arrested for the murder of Jessica Costello. Bobbie Phillips played Julie Costello, the murder victim's sister and the girlfriend of Richard Cross.

For the duration of season one, Hoffman defended Neil Avedon (Jason Gedrick), a young Hollywood star accused of the murder of fifteen-year-old Jessica Costello. During the first part of the season, Hoffman's associates also handled smaller cases which were usually wrapped up within one episode. While there were many plot twists and misdirections, fundamentally the entire season consisted of one defense case for Hoffman & Associates.